


The Nightmare Before Christmas

by LadySalvatore



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Hate to Love, christmas exchange, jonsa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 05:09:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13023903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySalvatore/pseuds/LadySalvatore
Summary: Sansa Stark was far from being perfect; she occasionally forgot to put the lid back on the toothpaste, she was constantly arriving late to places, she didn’t know how to change a tire or had any idea of what path her life was going to take, but there were three things that Sansa was absolutely sure about.She loved to write.Christmas was the best holiday ever.She hated Jon Snow.





	The Nightmare Before Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my gift for the Jonsa Christmas Exchange on Tumblr, it's pure christmas fluff and I really hope you all enjoy it.

> _“My dearest friend if you don’t mind I’d like to join you by your side. Where we can gaze into the stars and sit together now and forever. For it is plain as anyone can see, we’re simply meant to be”_
> 
> **-The nightmare before Christmas-**
> 
> **.**

**.**

Sansa Stark was far from being perfect; she occasionally forgot to put the lid back on the toothpaste, she was constantly arriving late to places, she didn’t know how to change a tire or had any idea of what path her life was going to take, but there were three things that Sansa was absolutely sure about.

She loved to write.

Christmas was the best holiday ever.

She hated Jon Snow.

Oh Jon Snow. He had been her neighbor her entire life; two years older than her, the curly haired boy became Rob’s best friend from the first moment they met and since it was only him and his mom, who worked too much, Jon became almost a permanent fixture on the Stark household.

Sansa and Jon were alike in so many ways; they both enjoyed listening to Ned’s old country music in vinyl, at the age of eight they already enjoyed watching old black & white movies and they both had a great obsession with Disney’s adaptation of Hercules.

They should have grown up to be best friends but instead of that they both developed a sickening obsession to compete with each other. If Sansa made a pretty draw, Jon had to make an even prettier draw; if Jon wrote a poem from class, Sansa had to write a more wonderful one and so it went, driving everyone around them crazy.

Secretly of course, Sansa had developed a huge crush on her neighbor and nemesis; she used to sit on her bed and write on her pink journal about how her wedding dress was going to be. She could picture it all, her red hair braided beautifully, her father smiling down at her as he gave her away and Jon’s soft curls on her hands and the smile on his lips as they twirled around in each other’s arms.

It was the perfect fantasy and exactly everything she always dreamed… but that dream crumbled down the summer she turned eleven.

It was a bright and sunny morning; the wind blew her hair around and the smell of grass was strong on her nose. A smile was plastered on her lips as she skipped on her pink ballerina flats to where her brother and his friends were. They hadn’t seen her so she hid behind a tree expecting to surprise them but then she heard the words that would change her life forever.

“I would never like Sansa Stark” Jon had yelled causing her young and frail heart to shatter “She is spoiled and bratty and she cries all the time so leave me alone!” He had stormed out in the other direction and Robb had ran to follow him while Theon remained where they were and laughed.

Sansa had run back home with tears in her eyes; Jon’s words and Theon’s laughter swirling inside her head over and over again. In that moment she vowed to never forgive Jon Snow for how he had broken her heart.

The years passed and Sansa and Jon never danced to old tunes together again, they never watched black and white moves nor they wrote poems for each other. But the competition never stopped, they continued to outsmart each other until it was time for them to go to college and they went their separate ways.

Until that cold December when Sansa returned home.

She had finished college a couple of months prior and had managed to get a job in Winterfell’s local paper, it was the job she had dreamed about ever since she was a teenager and she was sure everything was going to be perfect but then she arrived on her first day and there behind the desk with the plaque EDITOR shining brightly was the curly haired man she hadn’t seen in the last five years.

“Damn it” She had muttered under her breath and his lips had tipped up at the corners while his twinkling eyes looked at her with amusement.

“Welcome home”

In that moment she had cursed every single member of her family who had decided that hiding this monumental thing from her was a good idea. She walked out of work that first day fuming, her feet stomped against the asphalt as she walked in direction of her car and just when she was about to unlock the door, her purse and everything inside it scattered on the floor.

“Damn it!” She muttered as she dropped on her knees to retrieve all of her items.

“Here” A deep velvety voice said as he handed her make up bag over. Sansa gritted her teeth and raised her face to meet Jon Snow’s chocolate eyes.

“Thank you” She said through clenched teeth as she zipped her bag and straightened up “But I didn’t needed your help”

He laughed softly “You’re welcome Sansa, don’t need to thank me I do enjoy helping damsels in distress”

She huffed “I am not a damsel and I am not in distress”

His lips quirked in a smirk “Did you just quote Hercules to me?”

“Ugh” Sansa muttered as she turned around and entered her car, driving as fast and far away from Jon Snow as she could.

From that day on Sansa woke up grumpy in the mornings, she took five extra minutes to check her appearance on the mirror and ended up the day with a heavy headache. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the job because she adored it, but having Jon Snow breathing down her neck every day was already causing havoc on her nerves.

It didn’t help that he was even more handsome than she remember, or that he smelled like mint and cologne; or that she enjoyed his witty banter or the fact that he knew the exact way she liked her coffee and once in a while he grabbed her favorite from Starbucks as a treat.

And it was absolutely terrible that her heart fluttered whenever he spoke to her or that she sometimes wanted to smash his head against the wall, or that his lips looked so soft and her hands trembled whenever he leaned down over her desk to speak to her…because Sansa Stark sure as hell hated Jon Snow therefore she couldn’t harbor any kind of feelings towards him that weren’t of rage.

“Oh my God she’s so full of it” Sansa muttered on the cold morning before Christmas eve “Just look at her” Her eyes were trained on the desk at the far end of the room where Ygritte, one of the younger columnist, giggled dumbly at Jon who was leaning over her desk while he read her new entry for the paper.

“Excuse me?” Sam, a nice chubby guy who had befriended her immediately, asked. Sam also happened to be Jon’s best friend but Sansa didn’t allow that small lapse of lack of judgment affect her friendship with the guy.

“Just look at them” Her jaw clenched when she saw Jon smiling at the other girl “Isn’t that against the rules of something?”

Sam shook his head, an amused smile on his lips “Not that I know of, Jon is a single man so it wouldn’t matter”

Sansa rolled her eyes at her friend and resumed her tasks; she put on her headphones to drown the obnoxious giggles coming out of Ygritte’s mouth and concentrated on editing the entry she was to submit in a couple of minutes. Once she was over and she was certain Jon was back on his office, she printed the document and smoothed her black pencil skirt before heading in direction of his office.

Ten minutes after entering Sansa knew without a doubt that she hated Jon Snow more than she hated any other man before, even more than her first boyfriend Joffrey who had cheated on her with a string of girls, she hated Jon and his dark curls with such ferocity she hadn’t experienced before.

“You want to give my assignment to Ygritte?” She fumed her blue eyes glacial as they stared at him “Why would you do something like that to me?”

Jon sighed as he leaned back on his black leather chair “I’m not doing anything to you Sansa and I’m not giving your assignment to her” His eyes looked at her reproachfully “I’m asking you two to work together because I believe something really good can come out of it and I’m only pointing out some of the mistakes you made so you have a chance to rectify them” He said as he handed her document back.

“I hate you!”

Jon chuckled “You think this is professional behavior Sansa?” He asked as he stood up and unbuttoned his vest “You are fresh out of college; you should learn to accept constructive criticism”

Sansa rolled her eyes at him “You are not doing this to be a good boss; you do this because you hate me!”

He threw his head back and laughed “I don’t hate you San” He walked towards her “But I am a professional and you need to be one too and that means learning from your mistakes so revise your document and ask Ygritte for help”

Sansa clenched her teeth and sneered at him “I will never forgive you for this” With that she stormed out of the office and went back to her seat. She worked on her paper the rest of the day and told herself she would ask Ygritte for help on the day after tomorrow, after she had gotten rid of the feel of humiliation Jon had once again managed to bring out in her.

Sansa was happy to leave the office the day; on her way home she went to her favorite bakery and got herself a package of cinnamon rolls, she went to the library to survey the new arrivals and afterwards went to the gift shop to get a bow for her Secret Santa gift. It was tradition on her family to make it and this year she got her favorite brother, Robb, so she was extra excited to make everything perfect. The only thing she didn’t like about her family’s tradition was the fact that Jon Snow was also part of it, which meant the entire Christmas day she would be spending time with her nemesis and now most hated man.

With an extra flair on her step, smelling the coming snow in the air and carols coming from every shop in town Sansa hurried back home. Once in there she put on the newest Christmas cheesy movie on Netflix, changed into a pair of yoga pants and a warm cashmere sweater and proceeded to sit on her coach and eat cinnamon rolls while watching TV for the next couple of hours until the phone rang and delivered the worst news she could have heard.

“Hurry to the hospital” Robb’s voice said in the other side “Dad had a heart attack” With trembling cold hands Sansa managed to open the door of her apartment and rush into her car. Her brother’s voice kept swirling around in her head, the fear gripped her body and she could do nothing to lessen it. All she kept thinking was her father’s face and imagining his body in that hospital bed.

She burst through the hospital doors and practically ran in direction of where she knew her family was. Her mother was sitting on a chair next to the wall, a weary expression made her face look tired and her disheveled hair was up in a bun, little Rickon’s head was resting on her lap while she petted his hair softly. She could see Arya and Bran in the distance trying to get something out of the vending machine and Robb paced back and forth through the length of the hallway.

Sansa went to him since she knew her mother was probably too distressed at the moment “How is he?” She asked the minute she approached him; her brother released a sigh and pulled her into his body.

“He’s stable, they believe he will recover” He said softly as he caressed her back softly.

Sansa let out a sob and buried her face into her brother’s chest and let herself be surrounded by his familiar scent “I can’t believe this is happening”

Robb placed a kiss on her crown and rocked her body against his softly “It’s going to be all right sweetheart”

Moments seemed to stretch; the doctors told them her father was all right and that it was only a matter of time until he woke up. His body was probably tired and they would need to make some adjustments to his diet to make sure none of this would happen again. Their mother told them they should probably go back and rest but they all refused, nothing was going to make any of the Stark children leave their father in a moment like this.

While in the hospital Sansa couldn’t stop thinking about the fragility of life and how little humans truly are in the universe. How things can change in the matter of seconds and how precious every single second life gifted her with was; feeling the urge to breath she stepped outside and sat on the stairs leading to the hospital entrance.

There she stared into the stars shinning in the sky while she tried to calm her nerves and tell herself everything was going to be okay. She heard footsteps behind her and a minty scent filled her nostrils “Hey” A voice she knew all too well spoke from behind.

Jon had arrived earlier in the night with his mother, in his heart he was as much Stark as all of them and he wasn’t going to be far after knowing Ned was in the hospital, Sansa hadn’t spoken with him since he arrived so it was quite a surprise to hear him behind her now.

“Hey” She answered

“How are you?” He said as he sat down next to her, Sansa shrugged as her eyes remained in the sky above “It’s going to be all right Sansa. He’s a strong man” He told her softly.

“I hope so”

He bumped her shoulder with his and for some reason the action made warmth spread inside her chest “If there’s someone who can get out of something like this is Ned Stark” He told her but she didn’t answered, after a few minutes of silence he cleared his throat and spoke “I have something for you”

A frown appeared on her forehead as she lowered her eyes to stare at him “You do?”

He nodded as a small smile appeared on his lips, out of what seemed like thin air he pulled out a beautiful dark blue gift box and handed it to her “Merry Christmas sweet girl”

Sansa stared awestruck at him while her hands extended to accept his offering “What?”

“I’m your Secret Santa, I figured with everything that happened today you needed something good tonight” He gave her a smile that could have ended with war in the world.

“Thank you Jon” She said truthfully.

Sansa removed the top part of the box and pulled away the soft tissue paper that covered her gift, her mouth parting in a gasp when she realized what the content of the box was “Oh Jon” Her fingers touched the silky material of the dark blue scarf she had admired on Olena Tyrell’s store earlier that week, she had wished to buy it but it was too expensive for a recently graduated twenty two year girl. “This is too much” She whispered

“No it isn’t” He said while he watched intently as she pulled out the scarf and caressed it softly “It’s perfect for you” Her lips tipped up in a smile and they widened when she spotted the snow globe still resting in the box.

“I can’t believe you” She said as she pulled out the snow globe containing New York City inside “This is wonderful” She shook the thing and watched marveled as the snow started to fall over the Empire State building.

“And that isn’t the best part” Jon took the globe out of her hand and turned over so she could see the button and the base, he pressed it softly and **I’ll be home for Christmas** started sounding softly

Sansa felt her eyes filling with tears and on pure instinct she leaned her head and rested it on Jon’s shoulder, instead of pulling away like she expected him to do he circled her back with his arms and pulled her towards him.

Sansa Stark hated Jon Snow.

Except in this moment when she didn’t hate him at all.

His nose buried in the crown of her head and he closed his eyes as he breathed in the grape smell of her shampoo. It was a scent that haunted him ever since he was a child and one he wanted to spend the rest of his life smelling.

“Did you just smell my hair?” Sansa asked and felt his body stiffening.

“I might have”

Her lips curved in a smile “Why?”

Jon chuckled before pressing a soft kiss into her forehead “Because I like how you smell” His arms tightened around her “I always have”

She pulled away from him slightly and tipped her face in order to stare into his eyes “Always?” She asked with a small frown, memories of the words that had pierced her heart a long time ago came back to her.

His eyes softened, they were liquid gold staring at her “Always” He murmured before leaning down and kissing her lips softly. Sansa’s heart exploded with joy as she felt his kiss to the tips of her toes. His lips were soft and they moved slowly against her while the snow started to fall from the sky, chilling their bodies and blanketing the ground with bright white.

“Merry Christmas” He whispered against her lips.

She smiled “Merry Christmas” Their lips met each other again under the darkened sky while their entire family was perched on the window and stared at them with smiles on their faces.

“It was about time” Robb said.

Because Sansa and Jon had always loved each other, the only ones who didn’t realize it were themselves.

**THE END**

 


End file.
